Keeping Pilots, Crew and Passengers Safe During Pandemic Conditions
There is no precedent in the aviation industry for how difficult 2020 has been so far.
“Financially, 2020 will go down as the worst year in the history of aviation.” declared Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. And as The Economist points out in this sobering report “this won’t just affect foreign holidays; it could disrupt the workings of the globalized world.”
However, halfway through this unimaginable year, we are finally seeing indications that air travel is starting to take wing once again. Private aviation is leading the way, with bookings up to around 80% of pre-pandemic levels. Not surprisingly, a significant number of these flights are new private jet fliers.
As more and more people look to take to the skies once again, we are helping our private aviation customers do the utmost to provide a safe, supportive and productive work environment while helping them keep sight of business goals and risks.
Our scientists and developers have spent a great deal of time over the last few challenging months helping these customers rethink how COVID-19 impacts customer and crew safety procedures, analyzing associated planning and scheduling implications, and projecting business impacts for various scenarios.
Passenger and crew safety are of course still the paramount drivers. However, today’s environment compels the added constraint of limiting human contact to the safety calculus. Even at the best of times, pilots and crews prefer to get back to home base every day if possible. Today, this has become a key driver for many planning and scheduling decisions.
Currently, we can reduce the number of contacts outside home and create work bubbles by grouping and pairing crews. Importantly, the schedule keeps them just a drive home at the end of the last leg whenever possible. This protects them as well as the passengers by limiting and even eliminating hotel stays, meaning they can avoid contact with different crews and terminal personnel as well as drivers and other service staff.
In short, our customers are using new rules to reduce overnights and travel times for crews. This keeps them in the air and reduces the general exposure for both them and their passengers.